A problem of Cayley from 1857 and how he could have solved it

DOI10.1016/J.LAA.2005.09.003MaRDI QIDQ2575012zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Gian-Carlo Rota, Joel A. Stein

Publication date 5 December 2005

Published in Linear Algebra and its Applications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.laa.2005.09.003

zbMATH Keywords

bialgebrascoalgebrasfactorizationHopf algebraspolynomialssymmetric functions

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) Symmetric functions and generalizations (05E05) Polynomials, factorization in commutative rings (13P05)

Review text

The paper under review studies a classical problem initiated by Cayley in 1857. Cayley studied systems of homogeneous ternary equations of degrees 1, 2, 3, respectively. In a paper of 1857, \textit{A. Cayley} [Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London XXLVII, 717--726 (1857)], he computed the resultant of such a system in terms of the coefficients. (The paper under review gives an account of the results of Cayley; furthermore, the interested reader may have a look at the original paper. Although it might be somewhat difficult to get a copy of a paper published in 1857, one finds an online version at the address \texttt{http://www.hti.umich.edu/u/umhistmath/.}) While the original problem was resolved in Cayley's paper, there was another, more complicated problem concerning such systems. It was the following. How can one express the symmetric functions of the solutions of any two of the equations in terms of the coefficients? Cayley managed to compute these symmetric functions only of low degree and in some cases. The paper under review gives the complete solution to the problem stated above. It should be noted that the proofs make use of facts and techniques well known at Cayley's time. The paper is well written and rich with interesting bits and pieces. It will be of interest not only to working mathematicians but also for specialists in history of mathematics.

Recommendations

• Arthur Cayley, Robert Harley and the quintic equation: newly discovered letters 1859--1863
• What did they seek and what did they find? Combinatoric solutions for algebraic equations -- from Cardano to Cauchy. II
• The rise of Cayley's invariant theory (1841--1862)
• The decline of Cayley's invariant theory (1863-1895)
• Symmetric Polynomials in the Work of Newton and Lagrange

Cites work

• An Identity of Cayley
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1577988 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3630938 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 575960 (Why is no real title available?)
• Ideaux resultants
• Invariant aspects of elimination
• Le formalisme du résultant. (The formalism of resultant)
• Plethystic algebras and vector symmetric functions.
• Plethystic Hopf algebras.

Cited in

(4)

• Milne's volume function and vector symmetric polynomials
• Symmetry-based approach to the problem of a perfect cuboid
• Arthur Cayley, Robert Harley and the quintic equation: newly discovered letters 1859--1863
• Cayley continuants

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